


Not That Easy

by HaughtFox



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: AU, Army, F/F, Gen, Multi, Other, PTSD, Slow Burn, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-04
Updated: 2016-12-03
Packaged: 2018-07-20 02:20:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 16,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7386763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HaughtFox/pseuds/HaughtFox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nicole Haught is new in Purgatory. After a year of struggling to she finally feels like she found a place to settle. Then she meets Waverly Earp and things seem to be not that easy after all. - AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first story and I'm kinda winging it, writing a chapter every few days. Feedback is appreciated.

Waverly Earp was working the Friday shift at Shorty's. It was just about to be 4 PM when she started setting up the bar and preparing for the most exhausting night of the week.

People in Purgatory liked their Saturday night but fucking loved Fridays. Everyone came straight from work and the exhaustion of the past 5 days made people feel like they definitely deserved that 4th large Beer and the 3rd shot of tequila. 

Waverly hated the way people in this town behaved when they were drunk. Everyone thought they have more of a right to feel angry or lonely than the person sitting next to them and it made for at least two or three fights every Friday and Saturday. 

She knew how to deal with them though. Someone was always trying to grab her ass or touch her thigh or make inappropriate comments towards her and that made it easier to throw them out and sending them down a flight of stairs to at least have them take a few bruises home. 

Something was different though about this Friday. It was warmer than usual and spring was just around the corner. 

———

The bar was buzzing at 9 pm and you could feel a shift in energy somehow. People seemed nicer and happier. The winter was terribly cold and Purgatory lost some beloved  
old timers. Pop Pop Will who owned the first grocery store to sell Lucky Charms in the area was buried just last week. He was a legend for the kids around town. He somehow always had a piece of candy for every child that said ‘Hello’ to him. 

 

Waverly was overcome with a bit of sadness when suddenly the whole bar went silent. All you could here were a few coughs, the music and Wynonna Earp completely wasted shouting a story at Dolls about how she once broke someone’s jaw driving past them on her motorcycle, a bottle of whiskey in her hand that she then smashed into the guy’s face “who totally deserved it because he just did you know!”.  
Though even she noticed the awkward silence after a minute and she and Dolls turned their heads to see what the town was looking at. 

In through the door had just stepped Nicole Haught, walking slowly suddenly, spooked by the attention placed on her. She collected herself for a moment and then walked with the “pride of the forefathers” that her dad would instil in her every morning before she went to school. Head high, but not arrogant, determined steps straight for the bar, straight for Waverly Earp. 

A grey t-shirt with washed out ‘ARMY’ letters on them, some blue jeans and a pair of black sneakers was all it took to make Nicole look like the coolest girl in town.

She probably drives a really cool motorcycle, Waverly thought to herself.  
Wait that doesn’t even make sense just because she looks cool doesn’t mean she drives a motorcycle seriously Waverly, get your shit together. 

 

“Hello,” Nicole says with a shy half-smile, still a bit uneasy with all eyes on her. 

“Hey…,” 

 

Waverly was so in awe of the tall redhead standing in front of her that she forgot herself for a minute but immediately snapped back into reality when she noticed the concerned look on the redhead’s face. 

 

“What can I get you tonight?” 

 

Waverly was quirky and upbeat again, hoping it would help the bar get back to normal. She couldn’t understand what the fuzz was about, unless it was about the beauty of the tall girl now sitting on a bar stool right across from Waverly. That she could understand. 

 

“Can I have a really really big glas of your best bear and glas of your worst whiskey?” Nicole asked in a pretty serious tone now. 

 

Waverly shot her a concerned look but served Nicole a beer and the cheapest of the three whiskeys the served. She made the glas a bit fuller, she sensed it was needed. 

The redhead took a big sip of the whiskey and a small one of the beer to flush it down. It tasted horrible. 

The bar slowly began to get back to normal, only a few people stared and maybe whispered. Waverly was still confused, Nicole was just tired. 

 

Throughout the rest of the night a few people left, lots more came in to play pool or drink but almost all of them stared at Nicole,.

Something was up. Normally Waverly had a good hunch about these kinds of things and working at the bar kept her in the loop if she wanted to or not. But she had no idea what all of this was about. She kept on giving a Nicole a little reassuring smile whenever their eyes met. Maybe it would help. 

 

———

 

Gus tapped Nicoles shoulder to signal they’re closing. 

“Oh I’m sorry,” Nicole said jolting up in her seat. 

 

She was lost in thought. She didn’t drink much all night, which she planned on doing, especially today. Waverly quietly signalled to Gus that it’s alright, to let the woman who was still a stranger to her, sit for a while longer. Gus shrugged her shoulders and continued to lead old drunks up the stairs and out the door. The younger ones she’d just kick if they weren’t moving fast enough. 

 

Another hour passed and at 3 AM Waverly was done breaking down the bar, cleaning up and putting their earnings in the safe above the bar. 

 

“Hey listen, I really need to go home soon so I have to ask you to slowly prepare to go out into the cold,” Waverly says with a smile that contained more pity than anything else. 

 

Nicole got up, put 20 bucks on the bar and nodded a goodbye to Waverly. She was tired, exhausted and sad. 

 

This isn’t how she wanted her first week in the new town to be. 

 

Waverly’s eyes followed the redhead until she vanished into the dark.  
She picked up the 20 Dollars and noticed writing along the edges.  
It read “Thank you for making this day a bit more bearable, Waverly Earp.”


	2. Chapter 2

Waverly couldn’t sleep that night. Meeting Nicole, if you could call it that, left her with a weird feeling. How did she know her name? She’s never seen her around town before that night.  
And why was everyone looking at her? 

She knew she’d find out sooner than later. She just hoped it’s nothing that would make her not like the redhead. 

It was just about 6:00 AM when Waverly got dressed to head out to the diner and get some coffee. If she couldn’t sleep might as well make the most of this Saturday. 

It was raining outside. She put on her hood and took quick steps to the diner that was two blocks down the road. When she got there, Mary just opened up and greeted Waverly with a tired smile. 

She was sitting in a booth at the window with her coffee when someone outside sprinted past the diner and on to the empty parking lot. 

In shorts and a T-Shirt, Nicole Haught was working out like a maniac. It looked like the drills Waverly would see on TV about some army boot camp. She was soaking wet and had an exhausted look on her face. After 20 Minutes of staring Waverly got worried. She went outside, it was freezing cold in the rain.

 

“You know, we have a YMCA not far from here!” Waverly called to Nicole. 

 

The redhead stopped what she was doing and looked at her. 

 

“Good Morning, Waverly Earp”, she said with a small smile and jogged over to her to stand under the roof. You could see the tiredness in her eyes and she was shivering from the cold. 

 

“It’s not open yet, and I’ve exercised in worse conditions. This is fine.” 

 

“Well that’s great for you but I’d rather have the girl who gave me a 10 Dollar tipp yesterday not die from a lung infection”, Waverly scoffed more than she wanted to, one eyebrow raised.  
“So chop chop, soldier, that’s an order!”, pointing to the diner door. 

 

‘Chop Chop Soldier’, seriously Waverly what the fuck is wrong with you?!

 

Nicole’s face looked both surprised and bemused at the bossiness of the tiny person standing in front of her. But she obliged. 

 

———

 

So there they were, a soaking wet Nicole and a worried Waverly Earp, looking at each other sheepishly over the table, fidgeting with sugar packets, like they were teenagers on a blind date. 

Waverly had not thought this through at all and was now awkwardly staring at the table. 

 

“I’mwaverlyearp!” her hand shoots across the table and hovered in the air. Her heart was racing suddenly. Nicole slowly reached for her hand and shook it. Her grip was firm but her hands were still freezing cold. It made Waverly shiver for a second. 

 

“Nicole Haught” she smiled. She was exhausted, but it wasn’t the cold or the 7 Miles she already ran today. Something sat deep and it hurt. 

 

As Waverly let go of Nicole’s hand she noticed the small scars on her arms. It must have been 30 or 40 of them, tiny little cuts all across her Arms up to her T-Shirt sleeve.  
Nicole noticed the other woman starring and started rubbing her arms in discomfort. 

 

After a few minutes of silence she says “Well it was nice meeting you, Waverly Earp.”

 

She got up, gave Waverly a polite nod and thanked Mary for the towel she brought over for her when they came inside. 

 

Before Waverly could say anything or apologize for starring, the redhead had left and jogged down the street. There was an incredible amount of strength in each one of her steps. 

 

— — —

 

The rain had stopped by noon and the sun came out and it was hot. Waverly never missed an opportunity to wear shorts and her favorite top that always slid off her shoulders.  
She didn’t really care about the attention she got, wanted or unwanted, but the outfit made her feel good and sexy and ready for anything. One thing she wasn’t ready for was running into Nicole Haught, or to be precise: Nicole Haught running into her. With full force.

 

“Oh shit fuck I’m so sorry are you okay fuck!” Nicole was standing over Waverly, who was laying on her back, head spinning. She hit her head pretty hard and the first thing coming out of her mouth was “Oranges.” 

“Oranges?” Nicole asked confused. 

She grabbed Waverly’s hands and pulled her up so she could sit. Their faces were only an inch apart now and Nicole’s eyes shot down to Waverly’s lips and up to her eyes again.

 

“Why’d you do that?” Waverly pouted, still dizzy.

 

“It wasn’t on purpose I… I was running and I didn’t see you, I’m so sorry.” Nicole was starting to shake and let go of Waverly’s hands. She rubbed her face to get a clear head “Okay first aid, you’re bleeding, I’ll get you to the hospital.” 

 

“Nuh uh, no way!”

 

The word ‘Hospital’ sent Waverly into a panic. 

 

“I can’t go there, I really can’t, it smells weird a-a-and they have needles and I really, really, REALLY hate needles!” she had tears in her eyes. She still felt dizzy. 

 

Why was Nicole panicking? She knew first aid, she knew more than that!  
She put one arm under Waverly’s legs, the other one around her hip. 

 

“Hold on tight,” she said in a calm voice. As soon as Waverly leaned into her and held on,  
Nicole wasn’t panicking anymore. She was the calmest she’s been in a long while.  
She carried he to her car, passing what seemed like half the town, and put her in the passenger seat of her black Ford Bronco. Waverly noticed the smell of lavender. 

 

“Shit you’re still bleeding,” Nicole said concerned. She took off her T-Shirt, rolled it up and pressed on the back of Waverly’s head. “Hold it like this and press really hard.” 

 

Waverly didn’t listen, she looked at Nicoles toned stomach and the light freckles that covered her entire body… and the scars. 

 

The same as on her arms. 

 

———

 

Nicole lead Waverly up the steps to her house. It was small but beautiful. Waverly never payed it any attention, but it had tall trees around it, giving it some sort of privacy. Privacy Nicole seemed to need. 

 

She was feeling less dizzy and the bleeding had almost stopped. It wasn’t that bad of a wound and Waverly felt quite comfortable on the comfy couch, despite the arsenal of utensils Nicole had laid out before her. 

 

“Okay it’s a sting and two little stitches. If it hurts too much just grab my thigh, don’t worry about hurting me.” 

 

'I’d never hurt you' Waverly thought. 

 

Waverly nervously set her hand just above Nicole’s knee. She turned her head away from her so the redhead could tend to her wound. It hurt more than she expected and her nails dug into Nicole’s thigh. 

 

After two minutes Nicole announced: “There, all done. Shouldn’t even leave a scar. I took my time.”

 

“Thank You” said Waverly sheepishly. She was embarrassed for some reason.  
“Again I’m really so sorry for running you over…” Nicole looked at the floor.  
She came to this town to keep her head down, to live without complications and the last thing she wanted was everyone’s favorite bar tender to hate her.

 

“Hey, it’s okay”, Waverly now had both hands on her thigh. She looked at her with the kindest eyes.  
“You made it all better, no harm no foul.”

 

Nicole blushed. It was a while since someone looked at her like that or touched her so gently. 

 

———

 

“You can just drop me off here.” 

 

They were standing in front of the homestead. 

Nicole got out, walked around the car and opened Waverly’s car door. “I’d rather walk you inside, you still seem a little unsteady. If I may.” She was nervous again. Standing at attention, looking straight ahead. She fell into old Army habits whenever she was unsure. It gave her something to hold on to, to not fall apart.

 

“Relax, okay you can walk me inside.” 

 

Waverly was more amused than anything else but she also felt bad. What has this woman gone through to be so on edge and so nervous. She hooked into Nicoles arm and let her walk her inside. 

 

“FINALLY WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU I WAS WORRIED SICK!” 

 

Wynonna came stomping into the living room. 

 

“I’m fine, don’t worry.” 

 

“I GET A CALL FROM MARY SAYING SHE SAW YOU BLEEDING AND YOU WEREN’T AT THE HOSPITAL AND I COULDN’T REACH YOU ON YOUR PHONE!”

 

“Ms. Earp, I have to apologize. I knocked her over and she didn’t want to go to the hospital so I offered to do it myself.” She was standing straight again, eyes straight at Wynonna, hands behind her back. 

 

“Oh great who do you think you are, a doctor?!” Wynonna wasn’t shouting anymore but she was still mad. Since she got back to Purgatory a couple of months ago she felt protective like never before over Waverly. She was gone too long. 

 

“I failed to introduce myself. My name is Nicole Haught. Veteran Special Forces Officer with the 5th Special Forces Group, 1st Special Forces Regiment. I am not a doctor, Ma’am, but I have all the necessary medical training.” 

 

Waverly looked at her with big eyes, mouth open. 

 

“Oh… well then…” Wynonna was clearly embarrassed. “Thank you.”

 

There was a tear running down Nicole’s cheek. It has been a while since she had to say that sentence. It’s been a year and one day exactly. It instantly threw her back to the day she was standing next to 3 coffins. The day she buried her comrades, her friends. 

 

———


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Disclaimer: all I know about the Army (or Baseball stats) I know from Google. Please excuse any inaccuracies.)

It was the hottest day in three months. 

“We cleared this area of land mines on my last tour. It was crazy.”

“Yeah we did the same about 50 miles from here and it seemed impossible.  
Sometimes you feel like the ground will just open up and you’re going straight to hell.”

“I feel like we’re going to hell anyway.”

“It’s our job. It’s not the best, but not the worst.”

“I guess.”

“Why are we actually patrolling this part? I thought there’s nothing here anymore.”

“There isn’t but apparently shit gets dropped here every once in a while and picked up and  
maybe we’ll find a box of tennis socks or guns or whatever they need in their caves.”

“I don’t know how I’m gonna make it 10 miles back in this heat.”

“It’s technically only been 9 and a half.”

“Shut up, Schmidt.”

“You’re feisty today, Haught. Is it too ‘Haught’?”

“Yeah yeah, as far behind as you guys are it might as well be half a mile!” she laughed. 

First there was a roaring sound that quickly became deafeningly loud.

Next there was complete darkness. 

 

———

 

The sun was slowly setting when Nicole Haught woke up. Her ears were ringing, she was disoriented and dizzy. Her whole body was stinging. She wanted to draw her weapon but was stopped by a excruciating pain in her shoulder. It was dislocated. 

Okay Nicole, let’s do this. Most hits: Pete Rose. Most strickouts: Reggie Jackson. Most runs scored: Rickey Henderson. Highest batting average 

With popped her shoulder back in. She gritted her teeth not to scream.

“Ty Cob.. .366”, she whispered. 

The pain slowly went away. Her weapon drawn, she finally examined her surroundings. 

Just a few feet away from her she could see two bodies. Or whatever was left of them. 

This would have been the moment to panic. But that’s not what she was trained for. 

 

Stevens and Morales. Dead. Without a doubt. 

Stevens’ name was still readable on the uniform.  
His body got blown apart. Guts burnt, hanging out of right side of the bit of torso. The smell was almost worse than the sight. There was nothing left of the rest. 

Morales’ body was apparently hit the most direct because all that was left was part of his head, and the left side of his upper body. But his bleach blonde hair made him instantly recognizable.

Czezsky was farther away.

The shock wave of the missile sent him flying against a big rock. His skull was smashed open. When Nicole noticed Schmidt next to him, he looked as pale as a ghost. 

“He’s dead.” 

“Are you okay!” she shouted over to him.

“I broke a few ribs, got a burn on my right thigh but other than that I think I’m okay!”

When he went to grab his weapon, he noticed that he couldn’t. There was nothing to grab it with.  
Most of Schmidt’s left arm was blown of, bleeding down his uniform, forming a puddle on the floor.  
When he looked down, he panicked. The scream escaping his mouth was one of desperation, pain and fear. 

Most homeruns: Barry Bonds

Nicole ran over to Schmidt, she took out the medical kit, and started to work on his arm.

“I will stop the bleeding as much as I can, we’ll cover-“ She was interrupted. Schmidt was screaming at the top of his lungs. She had never seen him like this. But then again, this is the worst situation they’ve all been in. 3 of them were dead. Schmidt lost a limb and was bleeding profusely. Boone… what about Boone? 

“Schmidt, I need you to concentrate: where is Boone? Can you see him?”

He was confused and in pain. 

“SCHMIDT I NEED YOU HERE OKAY!” She shouted at him to get his mind off his arm.  
She couldn’t handle this alone. 

“I- I- I can’t… I can’t see him”, he stammered. “No, I got him, that’s him, he’s over there!”

Nicole stopped the bleeding on his arm as much as she could. She started to clean up his thigh so she could patch it up a bit. 

“Haught, I got it! Go and see if Boone is till alive.” the fentanyl she gave him finally kicked in. 

She nodded, glad to have Schmidt at least a bit clear and distracted from his arm, or that what was left of it. 

Boone was still breathing, but he couldn’t speak. His whole body was burnt. Blisters festering everywhere. 

It seemed like forever for her to get im ready to be transported in any way. 

Schmidt had dragged Czezsky over to Nicole. They wrapped him in one of their drag stretchers and Boone in the other one. 

“If I tie him on a stretcher, do you think you can drag Czezsky?”

“Yeah, he’s a lightweight.”

She pulled Boone onto the other stretcher. 

Their radios were broken. The Army didn’t see in necessary to get more robust once since “not enough failed to justify better ones.”

My old Nokia would have survived this. Nicole needed a bit of humor right now. 

She looked at Czezsky’s body. He looked peaceful. Nicole knew his family well. Their father’s had fought together. 

She went to Stevens’ and Morale’s bodies. It didn’t take her long to find their dog tags. She had to bring back something. Half burnt sticking out of Stevens’ jacket pocket was a picture of his wife. They had just gotten married 4 months ago.

Schmidt had emptied his backpack of anything they wouldn’t need and filled it with whatever he could find that was still drinkable and edible. Scrambling through body parts and backpacks to find medical pack leftovers. 

“They better give us a medal for this… or a free pass to heaven.”

Nicole had to laugh harder at that than she intended to. But it lifted their spirits a bit. 

It was almost dark.

Nicole was pulling Boone.

Schmidt followed with Czezsky. 

Her body still felt like it was on fire.

———

Boone died first. They checked for his breathing regularly. The first 6 hours he seemed as fine as  
he could be in his state. When Nicole checked the next time, he was gone. 

“It shouldn’t be far now”, Nicole said when she heard Schmidt cursing behind her. 

“WE’RE GOING SOUTH! FUCK!” Schmidt fell to his knees and hit his head with his palm.

“Schmidt- what the-“, Nicole didn’t finish the sentence. They should be heading west.  
They got turned around and were heading in the wrong direction for 6 hours. They were way off course. The search party would take ages to find them. If there was one. They were set to be gone for a while. After all, the area was supposed to be safe.

Lowest WHIP Pedro Martínez

She could see he was getting weaker. 

 

———

They soon set up camp. They needed the rest. At the rate they were going because of Schmidt’s leg, dragging Boone and Czezsky and factoring in their detour, they’d need at least 10 more hours. 

Schmidt took first watch. 

When Nicole woke up 4 hours later, he was dead.

———


	4. Chapter 4

She had carried Czezsky, or that what was left of him, strapped to her back. In each hand she held a rope dragging Schmidt and Boone behind her. 

3 miles outside of camp they finally found her, her body burning up under a blood soaked uniform. Most of it was her’s. She was covered in shrapnel. 

When she was 13 years old, her biggest dream was being awarded a medal for being brave.

She couldn’t have imagined at what cost that dream would become true.

———

She was still standing in the Homestead living room,  
arms still behind her back, looking straight ahead. You could see the tears rolling down her cheeks, along her jaw and down her neck. But her voice didn’t shake once telling the story of what happened 366 days ago. 

Wynonna felt ashamed for asking “why they kicked her out”. For the first time in a long while she didn’t know what to say. Instead, she poured three glasses of Whiskey. 

Waverly however, knew exactly what to do.

Her thumbs wiped the tear off of Nicole’s cheeks and when Nicole looked down at Waverly, she encountered the kindest eyes.

Waverly took Nicole’s hands from behind her back and held them in hers. Neither of them thought something so simple could feel so intimate. 

Wynonna felt she was hovering and decided feeling ashamed at Shorty’s is a much better idea.

———

Now it was Waverly Earp’s turn to bring home Nicole. 

Nicole drove in silence. Both hands on the steering wheel. Waverly’s hand on her lap. 

She felt so sad yesterday. Sad and angry and guilty. It was like that every day since she got home, but that day was especially hard.

She tried to release at least the anger. She almost knocked out a kid named Champ at the gym, because he had challenged her to a Boxing match, but it didn’t help. Maybe if she’d see him with that black eye she gave him, she’d feel that relief. But when she did, embarrassed in front of his friends at Shorty’s, it only made her feel guiltier.

But then something changed.

Nicole was getting pain killers at the local pharmacy when a brunette got to the register just seconds before her. What she bought amused Nicole. Band-Aids with kittens on them, Flintstones vitamins and a pack of condoms. 

The clerk looked at her with a hint of disgust. 

Nicole looked at her like she’d never seen another human before. 

———

When they got to Nicole’s house Waverly insisted on at least make her something to eat. 

The kitchen was bleak. Almost like the rest of the apartment. Waverly just now noticed how clean, how sterile everything was. There were no pictures on the wall. No personal belongings. Just a neatly folded American flag on a side table and a couple of magazines.

“AH!” Waverly exclaimed. “I found tomato soup and noodles.”

Nicole gave her a small smile. She watched as Waverly opened every drawer and cupboard looking for pots and utensils. Whenever Nicole wanted to help her she just raised a hand and gestured her to shut up. 

Nicole liked watching Waverly. 

Whenever a bit of skin was exposed between Waverly’s shorts and shirt Nicole couldn’t stop staring at it. And she couldn’t stop staring at those legs. And that neck. And the lips, oh the lips got her bad. She wanted to lick and bite them, one hand in the short brunette’s panties and the other one grabbing her hair. She imagined Waverly Earp, pants down bent over the kitchen counter, legs spread, dripping wet and-

 

“Soup’s ready!”

 

A chipper Waverly appeared in front of Nicole before she could finish the thought. 

She was looking at her, mouth open. She didn’t have these kinds of thoughts in a very very long time.

“Aw you poor thing…” Waverly put the bowls down in the living room and sat Nicole next to her on the couch. 

“It’s okay, you don’t have to eat it now. I can warm it up for you later,” Waverly said to her while stroking her hands. 

Waverly’s lips seemed to move in slow motion and before Nicole knew it she was kissing them.  
The leftover taste of tomato soup from when Waverly made sure it wasn’t too salty, mixed with some lip balm that was way too sweet for Nicole’s taste but on Waverly she liked it. One hand on Waverly’s hip she pulled her closer ran her tongue along the brunette’s lower lip.

Waverly was taken aback for a few seconds but Nicole pulling her in excited her.  
She climbed on to Nicoles lap, straddling and kissing her the way she knew made all the boys in town crazy. You could hear a little ‘Fuck’ escaping Nicole’s lips. The control she thought she had in this situation had passed over to Waverly.  
Her hands were on Waverly’s hips when she felt her body relinquish the last bit of control and suddenly it smelled like sand. 

Sand and rotting flesh. 

She pushed Waverly off her with full force and the woman that was so much more delicate than her fell hard on the ground, her face shocked. 

Nicole was hyperventilating, her fingers now buried in her thighs, her face red and her vision blurry.

“SCHMIIIIDTT!” She was screaming at the top of her lungs. 

“SCHMIDT WE HAVE TO GO YOU HAVE TO GET UP. GET THE FUCK UP!”  
She was now towering over Waverly who hadn’t moved an inch. 

Nicole was just screaming in agony and tears were streaming down her face. 

Waverly jumped up and wrapped herself around Nicole as best as she could.  
Nicole was incredibly strong and Waverly had trouble pinning the read head’s arms to her side. 

“Nicole, I’m here, okay? You’re at home, you’re at home, you’re not there, you’re at home and you’re safe. You’re at home and you’re safe.”

———

It felt like hours when Waverly stopped whispering the words to Nicole, whom she was cradling in her harms. She had said it over and over until it became almost like a mantra. 

She had lead Nicole into the cold, almost empty bed room and they were sitting on the large hard mattress, a thin scratchy blanket wrapped around them.

'Why do you punish yourself like this' Waverly thought to herself.

Waverly wasn’t sure what she was doing, but it seemed to work. Nicole was exhausted and half asleep when Waverly helped her into her pyjamas, trying not to stare at the scars covering almost her whole body. She helped herself to some shorts and a T-Shirt out of Nicole’s dresser.  
When she took them out of the drawer she noticed something hard sticking out of a folded up cloth.

It was a piece of metal, shaped almost like an arrow head, about an inch big. There was dried blood on it. 

'The pain she must have gone through' Waverly thought. 

It was hard to hold back her tears. She wanted to make it better.  
When a very sleepy Nicole cuddled up to her, wrapping her arms around her torso and laying her head on her chest with a small smile on her lips, Waverly hoped she made it better.

At least for today.

 

———


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still winging it. Please let me know if you notice any glitches in the story. I write this stuff late at night and sometimes confuse ideas that I have with what I've already written. Thank you for the comments so far.

Waverly woke up to the smell of pancakes and coffee. When she looked at the clock on the bedside table it was just 07:00 AM.

_Are you kidding me? It’s a Sunday!_

She wasn’t used to waking up this early. Normally she had the Saturday night shift at Shorty’s but she called in sick because she wanted to stay with Nicole.

_Maybe I should do that more often she thought to herself._

She sat up and examined her surroundings, now with a clearer head. It was still quite cold. There was nothing really of Nicole here, she felt like. Granted, she knew her for not even 48 hours.  
Normally she either became kind of friends with someone in that time (but nothing more) or she fucked them once, twice if it was great the first time around. But this was different. She felt an immediate protectiveness for Nicole. And some sort of pity, if she was being honest. But she was also attracted to her, or at least she hoped so. Maybe it was a ‘Oh my God that poor little puppy’ thing but she wasn’t sure.

_'I need to figure this out.'_

What was more important though was the growl in her stomach. She got up and walked into the kitchen. Nicole was in slim black sweatpants and a grey sweater. She looked so cool and sexy at the same time. Waverly took a few moments to watch how gracefully and with which care the tall woman filled the pancake dough into the pan. The stack next to the stove looked perfect.

“Do you wan’t some coffee?” Nicole turned her head to Waverly with a smile.

“Oh… yes please,” said Waverly in a shy manner. Did she get caught starring?

While Nicole was waiting for the last pancake to be done and Waverly was sipping on a delicious cup of coffee, she suddenly said “Listen, I’m sorry about yesterday. I kinda got carried away and I didn’t consider that it might have been to much, you know with climbing on you like that and all… and I wanted to say I’m sorry I freaked you out or like… triggered something, I guess? I mean, I don’t know because I don’t know what make you feel the way you did yesterday but I don’t want to do or say anything that freaks you out and yeah… I don’t know.”

Nicole looked at her attentively. When she noticed Waverly didn’t have anything more to say, she took a deep breath and replied: “It’s not your fault, Waverly. I am the one who should be, and is, sorry about yesterday. I pushed you and that is not okay. I approached you by kissing you and that gave you the signal that and maybe more is okay with me and I shouldn’t have done that. Because I know how I can be in those situations when things get… heated.” She had a shy smile on her face but got serious again a few seconds later. “I felt something yesterday, or actually the day before, when I saw you at the pharmacy… and it’s been quite a while and I don’t know exactly what it is but I just went with it and abandoned my better judgement a bit… or actually a lot. And that wasn’t okay because I put you in a harmful situation. And I’m sorry.”

She was very earnest and proper. Waverly liked that about her.

She walked toward the redhead, who was fidgeting with the string of her sweat pants, hugged her, put her head on her chest and said: “We’re good, Nicole. Let’s just take things slow maybe? Until you actually feel comfortable with another person coming that close.”

Nicole put her arms around her in return, chin on the tiny brunette’s head.

“Thank you”, she said relieved and happy.

Wynonna came by in the afternoon and brought them ice cream. Partly because she felt bad, partly due to the fact that Waverly sent her 14 text messages that all read ‘BRING US ICE CREAM’.

She only stayed long enough to exchange a few sentences with Nicole, to make sure they’re alright, and to check on Waverly. She didn’t want her sister to be in any situation that was to emotionally draining. But somehow she had a good feeling about Nicole. Maybe a more serious friend would be good for Waverly. After all, she heard the rumors about her sister being quite promiscuous. She wasn’t one for slut shaming, but definitely didn’t want her sister to catch a broken heart… or a STD.

Nicole and Waverly spent the rest of the day watching TV. Waverly gave Nicole a quick, one hour long run down on what happened on the first 11 Seasons of Keeping up with the Kardashians and suggested Nicole should catch up until next Sunday so they can watch the first new episode together. Nicole was clearly overwhelmed by the huge amount of new information.  
The only thing she kept up with was sports. Any kind of sport. That’s all she watched because it was exciting but familiar.

When it got to about 9 PM, Nicole was getting tired and Waverly knew she had to help out Gus to fix a few things around the bar in the morning. Gus hated getting help from people she didn’t really trust and Shorty was out of town for a few weeks to visit his brother.

“I mean, I’m not a stranger to work, I’ll change my own tire, thank you, but I don’t even know what most of the stuff means she put on my to do list.” Waverly crossed her arms and pouted.

“When are you starting?”

“Around 9 AM. I’m not even getting paid. Which, I mean, it’s fine, Gus did more for me than I could ever repay her, but it’s not helping my motivation…”

“I’ll be there to help. I mean, if you think that’s okay with her… and you of course.”

“If you’re with me I’m sure she won’t mind but are you sure? It’s a lot of stuff and will probably take forever.”

“The doctors said I should keep busy and because ‘’working out and watching Baseball’’ apparently doesn’t count”, she said with a chuckle “it would be a good thing.”

Waverly’s face lit up “Okay awesome! Meet me there at 8:30?”

———

Waverly was on top of her, panting and biting her lips. She could see the beads of sweat running down her chest, her eyes fixed on Nicole’s. Nicole’s hands were on her hips, firm and strong but without hurting her. Nicoles breasts were immaculate. Waverly was wondering if the beautiful woman between her legs could feel how wet she was. Nicole was moving with Waverly’s grinds and with every time they became more in sync. Nicole wrapped her arms around Waverly and in a quick and smooth swoop had her on her back. Now Waverly’s legs were around her hips and Nicole was thrusting in the other woman. The movement made Waverly crazy and even wetter than she was before. Nicole was now leaning over her, one hand keeping her steady just above Waverly’s body the other one… where was the oth-

“Ooohh my god…”. Waverly’s eyes rolled back. The moment Nicole put her fingers inside of her was a pure revelation. With every thrust of fingers, every lick of a tongue over her nipples, every bite to the neck and every kiss she felt tiny soft firecrackers exploding under her skin.

Her moaning got louder and noticing Nicole react with a pleased smile every time Waverly called out her name made Waverly all the more happier about her current situation.

She was so close when she heard a faint bang. And another one. And another one.

“WAVERLY EARP DID YOU STEAL MY LEATHER JACKET AGAIN?”

Wynonna only knocked one more time before she bursted into room.

Waverly was alone, in her PJs, wrapped up in her blanket.

“Great, thanks!” Wynonna said with a triumphant smile when she found her favorite Jacket hanging over Waverly’s chair. She grabbed it and left the room, closing the door with a loud bang.

Waverly was definitely awake now and quickly came to the realisation that she just had the best dream ever.

This wasn't going to be easy.

———


	6. Chapter 6

Waverly arrived at Shorty’s at 10. An hour late, which Gus was going to be mad about. And one and a half hours late to meet Nicole. Which Waverly was mad about.

 

Inside Gus and Nicole were already working away.

 

“Well if it isn’t Waverly Earp, gracing us with her presence.” Gus had her hands on her hips but looked less angry than Waverly had expected.

 

“I did the first coat of paint on the doors, they’re drying out back and all the metal and plastic is sorted so they can just pick it up tomorrow. I think the lights should-“, Nicole noticed Waverly had walked in.

 

“Hey”, she said with a smile.

 

“Hey”, Waverly gave her a shy smile back.

 

“How… uhm…are you… what’s up?” Nicole tried to sound casual and tanked.

 

“Yeah cool I’m great, yup.” She was rocking back and forth on her heels. She followed up with a quick “How’s it hang- I mean, how are you doing?”

 

“Yep, all good. Super great.”

 

They were still standing there just looking at each other across the bar.

 

They got interrupted by an “Okaaay, we’re all doing great. Isn’t that lovely.” Gus smiled and then her face turnt serious. “You,” pointing at Waverly “are late. So chop chop.”

 

“You,” looking at Nicole, her face turned kind “are my favorite. Waverly, you could learn something from this one. She was here at 8 and already did more in two hours than good old Robert did in a year.”

 

Nicole was turning red and got back to her task.

 

Waverly knew her job already: cleaning the whole bar.

 

They worked away to the radio playing for a couple of hours. Nicole was doing everything with such precision and care and crossed one thing after another off her to do list.

It motivated Waverly to do the same and she even cleaned the spots she knew no one checked.

 

 

_This is good, super easy._

 

 

Waverly was cleaning the taps when she got splashed by on of the broken ones. Her shirt was completely drenched. “Gosh darn it!”

 

Nicole was leaning on the bar. “I didn’t know Shorty’s held wet t-shirt contests”, she said with a mischievous smile.

 

“Veeery funny, Nicole!” She fished a ‘Shorty’s Salon’ shirt out from under the bar and tried to get out of her wet top. She got caught in it for a second but managed to get out somehow.

When she was able to see again, Nicole was standing in front of her. There were only two inches between them and when Waverly tried to say something Nicole grabbed the ‘Shorty’s’ T-Shirt, threw it behind her and grabbed Waverly, lifted her up like it was nothing and sat her on the back bar.

“What happened to taking it slow?”

 

“Fuck it.”

 

Nicole was kissing her so intensely that she was throwing over glasses, trying to find something to hold on to. Nicole was biting her neck, hard, and Waverly buried her fingers in Nicole’s hair.

 

“When I’m done with you there’ll be now way you can still stand behind this bar tonight.” Nicole looked at her hungrily.

 

“Oh really, how are you going to-“ she felt her bra pop open. “-do that…” she looked at Nicole, a bit surprised but very very turned on. The redhead went straight for the kill and pushed her hand under Waverly’s skirt, past the lacy panties and-“

 

“If you keep doing that you’ll put a hole in the bar.”

 

Nicole was standing on the other side of the bar, noticeably amused by Waverly daydreaming and polishing the same spot on the bar for almost 10 Minutes.

 

“Can I have a glass of water?”

 

“Uhm, sure”, the still confused, and slightly horny, brunette said.

 

She poured a glass of water and with a shaking hand put it down in front of Nicole.

 

“Are you okay? Have you eaten yet?”

 

“I’LL MAKE US SOMETHING”, Gus shouted from the kitchen.

 

_Are. You. Fucking. Kidding. Me._

 

———

 

Nicole had painted the doors, separated the trash in the back lot, exchanged broken cables, fixed the beer tap, and sorted the boxes in the basement into some kind of an order. Gus was very pleased the with the new girl in town and made sure to let Waverly know while they were having a late lunch. Waverly was clearly embarrassed, she basically only cleaned the bar, swept the floor and wiped the tables down, something she normally does in under an hour.

 

Nicole was acting modest, but was secretly very proud of having done so much work and helping Gus. Gus was tough but seemed to have a heart of gold, and Nicole felt it could come in handy to have her on her good side.

Waverly loved her though, even when Gus was hard on her. Maybe rightfully so.

 

“Gus, why did everyone look at me that evening I came into the bar that first time?”

 

The question wasn’t expected and Gus was taken aback for a second.

She was clearly feeling uneasy about the question but gathered herself and answered: “A few vets here still have good friends in the force and people talk and are nosey and having a girl in her mid twenties who is as decorated as you are move to Purgatory is quite unusual.”

 

Nicole thought about that for a second. “Huh”, she said, paused and then continued “I guess it is quite of an odd choice. But, it’s… it’s not really. Not for me. I mean, a bit. But there’s a reason why I chose to come here.”

 

Waverly and Gus looked at each other, while Nicole was fidgeting around with the hem of her shirt.

 

“It sounds dumb. When I was 13 years old I was actually in Purgatory once. We were on a camping trip and my dad’s car broke down not far from here and it would take at least a day or two to repair. So I walked around town, bored out of my mind. And I saw this house at the edge of town, with these broken stairs leading up to it. It was painted blue and had a yellow, rusty mailbox. It must have been empty for years and I climbed in through a broken back window and just sat on the floor, imagining who lived there and how their lives were. Wondering if there ever lived a girl in the house that was angry at her dad because her mom left or that was struggling to figure out who she is. I wanted it to be a happy place but my thoughts kept turning it into a sad house.

 

I promised to myself that one day I’d buy that house and fill it with happiness.”

 

 

Nicole felt good about sharing that. It made her feel more solid in her choice. Moving away from the base wasn’t easy. Not having anything to do wasn’t easy. Finishing weekly therapy sessions wasn’t easy. Meeting new people wasn’t easy.

 

Nicole felt happy in that moment. Gus got up and squeezed her shoulders.

 

“You’re a keeper.” She turned her head to Waverly, giving her an urgent look as to say ‘take good care of this one.’

 

They finished up a few little tasks and called it a day.

 

———

 

When Waverly worked the shift the next Wednesday, she hadn’t seen Nicole since they fixed up Shorty’s the few days before.

 

She knew they had agreed to take it slow for Nicole’s sake but Waverly found it progressively harder to concentrate on work when all she could think about these big brown eyes looking at her while she got fucked into oblivion. She tried to distract herself by thinking of some really good sex she had in the past but any time she thought she found a good fuck to think about, she noticed how mediocre it actually was. They were all fast, foreplay was non-existent and the orgasms were… alright. Not as good as when she just did it herself. For the first time in her life she was more excited by the thought of what someone might make her feel than by what she could do to the other person. She was so ready to just let the tall redhead do whatever to her.

 

 _'God Waverly Earp, stop behaving like a total slut'_ she thought to herself.

She felt bad for a second but the next one she already thought about how badly she wanted to be exactly that for Nicole. The physical strength she noticed in Nicole turned her on. It scared her that one moment in Nicole’s living room but whenever she noticed it in other situations she wanted to know what it feels like. That strength, on top of her, inside her.

 

It was about 11 PM when Nicole came stumbling into the bar, a gaping wound on her cheek.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Please leave comments, it helps a lot. Thank you for the ones so far.  
> I plan on writing longer chapters, once I have more time.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, trust me on this. Still winging it, just trying to get a bit of grittiness and keep the darkness for just a bit longer.

Her head was throbbing. She couldn’t move the muscles on her face. Something felt like it was burning. She was about two blocks away from Shorty’s but there was no one on the street this late.  
She couldn’t call for help because the slightest movement of her face caused her an incredible amount of pain. She staggered to the bar, holding on to fences and walls lining the way. She could feel her mouth fill with blood and it was slowly dripping out between her lips, leaving a trail of dark red spots. 

When she made it to Shorty’s, up the stairs and through the doors the wall of noise hitting her upon entry almost made her faint. Why was her head hurting so much? Why couldn’t she speak?  
Before she could fall over, Dolls and Wynonna steadied her and led her to a chair. 

She could see from everyone’s expression that she must look terrible. 

The next thing she could remember was Waverly Earp’s face, her eyes filled with tears.

After that it’s just blackness. 

———

“We tried to contact her next of kin but we could only find a aunt that apparently didn’t have contact with the family since before Miss Haught was born.”

“No parents, no siblings?”

“Nothing.”

“So what happens now?”

“Well the hospital will do anything necessary to get her back to good health. After that it’ll be probably some physical therapy, if she was attacked by someone we might refer her to a psychologist. She has pretty good health insurance through the Army so it’ll all be taken care off.  
And she’s in good hands here.”

“Okay, but what if she needs someone to like… help her or something, I don’t know. I mean, there’s no way she can go through that alone. Are you sure there isn’t anyone else besides that Aunt?”

“Ms Earp, we are very thorough. Some people just don’t have anyone. And they still end up just fine. She’s a trooper.”

Waverly looked over to the Nicole’s hospital bed. The redhead looked like hell but underneath that cut, the black eye and the wires in her jaw she was still so beautiful and strong. 

“I will check in again with her later.” The doctor left and Waverly fought to hold back the tears.

Nicole was out for almost three days. The painkillers were strong and she was never awake long enough to realize what was happening. Three days Waverly sat by her bed during the day and slept on the arm chair in the corner during the night. Wynonna came by once or twice to check on her, telling her to go home and get some proper rest. 

“She’s alone Wynonna, imagine this would happen to you and I wasn’t there. Dolls wasn’t there. Gus wasn’t there. Even you’d be scared.”

Wynonna couldn’t say anything. 

“I… I don’t know her that well, but I think she trusts me and I think she needs a friend and I can be that friend, maybe. Just trust me on this, okay?.” Waverly was leaning on Wynonna’s shoulder as the both looked out the window. You could see Purgatory and the old mines. 

When Nicole finally woke up and saw Waverly sitting in the arm chair, reading a book and looking so content, she couldn’t help but watch her turn the pages for a few minutes. At one point she made a disgusted face and let out a puking sound.

It made Nicole laugh and immediately regret it because her whole jaw felt like it had been smashed in with a pipe. Waverly looked up from her book when she heard the laugh and moan, and put her book the side. 

“Hey you,” she came over to sit next to Nicole’s bed. She took her hand in her’s and stroked it. 

“Hey,” Nicole said through clenched teeth. “I cnt pn… pn…upn…ma moth.”

“Oh yeah you have metal wires in your jaw because your right side is completely comminuted.”

“Wt hppnt?”

Waverly told her about Shorty’s, the ambulance ride and how brave Nicole was when they examined her wounds.

“You refused the painkillers at first but then you passed from the pain of them trying to X-Ray your jaw.” She had to chuckle at that a bit. 

Nicole’s face was confused. 

“You have a cut wound on your right cheek, it’s about 2 inches long. Their plastic surgeon sowed it up very nicely so it shouldn’t leave that big of a scar. You jaw is smashed and they wired it together so it can heal properly. You might have problems with that for a while, the doctor said. But you can eat and speak properly soon. You have a black eye but it’s not that bad, the swelling is already going back a bit. You have bruised rips and a couple of scratches here and there, probably from when you tried to make your way to Shorty’s.”

The amount of information scared Nicole. Tears began swelling up in her eyes. 

Before Waverly could react Wynonna burst through the door. 

“I need to talk to you.” Her eyes signalled Waverly to go out into the hallway with her. 

When they were standing outside the room, out of ear shot from Nicole, Wynonna hesitated. 

“What is it? Spit it out”. Waverly was eager to know what made Wynonna so nervous. 

“They found Nicole’s truck.”

“What do you mean, found it.?”

“Someone parked it right in front of her house last night.”

“What do you mean, someone?”

“It was two blocks from shorty the night she was attacked. But no one bothered with it, until today. When it was moved. And it got written on.”

“Okay, so someone beat her up, took her car keys? I mean, if there car isn’t gone that’s at least something.”

Wynonna was looking the floor, hands in her back pocket, obviously nervous.

“Jesus Christ Wynonna what is going on?”

Wynonna handed her her phone. A picture was on the screen. It was a photo of Nicole’s truck. 

In red spray paint it read “Fuck Army Dykes.”

Waverly was sick to her stomach. 

When she told Nicole, she didn’t get any reaction. 

Nicole just looked out the window and swallowed the anger that was building in her throat.

Waverly would have to get used to that silence over the next coming weeks.

———

“What do you mean you don’t want to press charges?” Waverly was flabbergasted. 

“I just don’t want to press charges. I want to deal with this in my own way.”

“Nicole, we know who did it. Champ boasted to people about it. He needs to pay for it. Everyone knows it was him. What, you want to meditate away what happened?”

It was a hot day for mid April. Nicole was sitting across from Waverly and Wynonna in one of the diner booths. 

If it weren’t for the red scar on Nicole’s cheek, you wouldn’t know she viciously attacked just about a month ago. She was so calm and collected. When Champ got cocky about what he did and Nicole got a call from the police station, she wasn’t interested. 

Wynonna was worried, but smart enough to not get in the middle of this. If Nicole made her decision that’s fine with her. 

Waverly was mad. She was furious. She kicked Champ out the bar any time he tried to enter. She shouted at him in the street and the supermarket and at church. 

“It’s between Champ and me. I don’t want to press charges. I want to deal with it in my own way.”

“Well I hope you can deal with being a coward!” Waverly shouted, got up and walked out of the diner without paying. Why would Nicole just let this go?

Wynonna looked out the window, her eyes following Waverly who was stomping across the parking lot. 

“I’m going out of town for a few days, do you think you could get someone to give my car a new paint job? You can send me the bill, the price doesn’t matter.”

Wynonna nodded. 

“Getting away from here doesn’t sound that bad. I hope it does you some good. Waverly will calm down, don’t worry. Not all of us are vengeful.”

 

Nicole gave her a small smile, put a 20 Dollars on the table, got up and left. 

———

She had taken the black metal box that was hidden in the back of her closet. It was a bit dusty, but still in good shape. She always took good care of it. It was her only weapon on a lot of missions. Missions that never happened. Officially. 

The sun was just setting and orange light was creeping in through the crack of the wooden panels.  
The entrance of one of the old mines, was covered in gold and orange and reached in just far enough, for Nicole to pick out the right tool.

“This is one of my favorites,” she said, turning a pair of lineman pliers in her hand. She wasn’t angry but rather giddy. 

“We’ll start with… toes? To ease you in. Finger nails hurt like hell. And I’m not a monster, you know? I can’t wait to do your teeth, though. You have such nice teeth…”.

For the next few hours, the sound of Champ’s muffled screams would echo into the depth of the old mine.

———

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shit is getting dark in this one, but please bear with me.  
> I just want to write something that has a complex substance for whatever will happen with Nicole and Waverly. 
> 
> Please, leave comments, suggestions, questions, and hints for spelling/logical errors :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while. I'm really sorry for that.  
> I know I left y'all with a cliff hanger and I hope I found a good solution for this next chapter.  
> Please let me know if you like or dislike it. (I'm not sure yet if I like it, I wrote it at 1 AM a tiny bit drunk)  
> Every and any comment helps.  
> Please send me a message (haughtfox.tumblr.com) or leave a comment if there are any mistakes that make the story confusing. 
> 
> Hope you like it.

6 days Nicole had spent in the woods. Living off of what she gathered and hunted.  
She hadn't been properly out camping before she went on her last tour and after the first night  
she already felt like a new person. Her jaw still hurt sometimes and she could get pretty bad headaches if she exhausted herself too much but being out in nature by herself with just a few tools, a tent and a sleeping bag was everything to her.

She was bathing in a ice cold river when she had to think about that dream again.  
She had it every night since she was attacked and it never changed.  
First she'd pull out his toe nails, slowly one by one. She waited a few minutes for the pain to get less before she would go on to the next one. The pain would almost make him faint but she wanted him to stay with her. She sprayed something on his feet to numb the pain before she'd go on to the next part of his body. For hours she had him on the brink of passing out.

Every once in a while he'f gather some strength to spit some blood that filling his mouth in her direction. Nicole just laughed at that.

She didn't want to think about the rest, or any of it for that matter.  
That part of her scared her. She was so good at pushing that part of her past way way down because she felt sick about a lot of things she did in the name of duty, in the name of some "greater good".

Should she press charges? She knew she needed some closure.  
She was always very proper, went by the rules. That's what she was taught.  
That's how she was raised. But not when it got personal. When it go personal her dad cut O'Riley's front door down with a chain saw, when it got personal he would chase people down the street for miles with a baseball bat, when it got personal he always told her: fight your own battles.

But pulling out Champ's teeth, one by one, wasn't a solution.

When she got back to Purgatory, a few pounds lighter but mentally stronger than she'd ever been in the past year, she noticed the flowers blossoming and the town buzzing.  
She felt like she was ready for anything.

Except for Waverly Earp ignoring her.

____________________

"She'll come around, don't worry", Wynonna said, sipping on her 3rd glass of Whiskey.  
Nicole was on to her 4th beer hoping the alcohol would take away that stinging in her stomach.

Waverly had ignored her for a whole week since she got back from her little retreat.  
Wynonna or someone else had to order her drinks for her at Shorty's if Gus wasn't  
around. The only thing that changed for the better was that everyone was nice  
to her, bought her drinks, offered their help if she were to ever need it.

She saw Champ around town and at Shorty's but managed to ignore his smug grin.  
He'd gotten away with it. Which was nothing new but in this case it was a new record.  
Nicole felt it was time to go. Waverly brushed past her every few minutes and she couldn't  
take the awkward silence.  
Wynonna gave Waverly a trying look that read "Come on, give her a break!".

 

Waverly wasn't having it. She wanted Nicole to be strong and stand up for herself.  
She had a crush on a brave soldier for god's sake. 'Not a coward', she thought while she angrily filled another pint with beer.

Wynonna gestured to Nicole that it's no use and they should get out of there.  
Nicole emptied the rest of her beer in one gulp. She was already quite drunk and desperation slowly changed into anger. When they were about to leave she turned around and raised her finger as if she wanted to say something. In that moment Champ walked by and shouted "Hear, hear, Folks! Nobody asked, but it looks like GI Jane has something to tell us!" He laughed the hardest at his joke everyone else didn't quite know what to do. Except for Nicole.

The first crack was Champ's nose breaking under Nicole's fist. The next one came after her lifting him up by his shirt like he was nothing and throwing him on to a table that collapsed under him like it was made out of toothpicks.

First came gasps. Then complete silence. Then cheers.

Champ's friends picked him up and led him past Nicole put the door.  
When their eyes met Champ looked like he had just seen a ghost.  
Disbelief and fear and pain were written all over his face. Nobody had ever stood up to him like that, especially not a girl.

"BABY GIRL! YOUR BEST WHISKEY FOR ME AND GI JANE!" Wynonna shouted to the bar.

A now beaming Waverly was smiling her biggest grin at Nicole.

Nicole didn’t know what to feel at first. When the anger passed, she felt…relieved? She didn’t want to admit to herself how good that felt. Her first thought went to her dad, slamming John Nash’s head on the bar because he blamed her mother leaving on her dad working too much.  
She felt confused. Did she do the right thing? Waverly was pouring whiskey, the bar was alive, people congratulated her, Wynonna celebrated her. She did do the right thing, right? She stood up for herself, right? She didn’t do anything really bad… right? She knew she was capable of much worse. Her dreams made sure to remind her of that. This was the lesser evil, she thought.

‘Handle your business and move on’, she could hear her dad say.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, exhaled and opened her eyes. Waverly was standing right in front of her, flashing her the biggest smile she had and everything felt alright.  
____________________

A very drunk Nicole fumbled for her keys when a very sober Waverly snatched them out of her hand.

“Nu-uh. No way, you’re not driving tonight.”

“Iwasjusgoinhooome”, Nicole slurred back.

“I’m going to drive you home, alright?”

“Bu—uh…I can driiiive. I am in the navy!”

“You are in the Army and you’re wasted. I don’t want to hear anything other than a “yes ma’am”, Waverly’s voice got serious.

“YES MA’-“ Nicole had to throw up in front of the car.

Waverly lead her to the passenger seat, grabbed a bag out of the trunk and gave it to Nicole.

The radio was playing a slow, old song. Nicole was almost passed out and jolted awake when they hit a bump in the road. She went right back to sleep when Waverly assured her everything is fine.

They made their way up the stairs to Nicole’s house, Waverly steadying her, making sure she stayed awake and didn’t fall over. When they go into the living room Nicole bumped her toe.  
A wailing filled the room. Waverly looked at the very drunk but still very beautiful woman now sitting on the floor holding her foot, rocking back and forth, tears streaming down her face.

“Oh boy…”, Waverly whispered to herself. She was a tad bit worried. She shouldn’t have refilled their whiskey three times. She crouched down, put her arm around Nicole and comforted her.

“Should we go to bed? You must be exhausted.”

Nicole was sobbing into Waverly’s chest for another hour before she could calm down and fall asleep. Waverly didn’t sleep at all that night. She replayed that scene in her head, over and over.  
Part of her felt so proud of Nicole for sticking up for herself and doing something at least.  
But the other part remembered the look on Nicoles face right after she threw Champ on that table.  
Nicole scared herself. She wanted to be in control and she wasn’t. Waverly felt bad all of a sudden.

She didn’t know Nicole well enough to put her under so much pressure. Who was she to tell Nicole how to deal with the situation.

When Nicole woke up, Waverly was gone.

 

_________________

 

A hungover Nicole made her way to the Diner around noon. She had picked up some aspirin on the way and downed two of them with a cup of black coffee that Mary put in a extra large cup because Nicole looked like she needed it. It took another two large cups before she managed to get up and pay. She felt like hell. She was standing just across from the town square when she saw Champ on the other side. He nodded at her sheepishly, then looked at the ground and hurried away.

‘One less thing to worry about I guess…’ she thought.

She made her way to the grocery store to pick up her hangover cure. Pickles, Kool Aid and hot pockets. She made her way back home through the hot sun when a voice behind her stopped her.  
“That sure looks healthy, but you’re missing the most important thing: more whiskey.”

Wynonna was wearing sunglasses and had a grocery bag of her own. It really had whiskey in it. As well as two boxes of Twinkies and gallon of root beer.

“Want to sober up together, Haught?”

Nicole nodded. She had nothing better to do, so she followed Wynonna back to her car and they made their way to the Homestead.

When they stopped the car just in front of the porch and Nicole got out something made her almost drop her bags. Waverly Earp was standing in the yard in red 80s gym shorts and a bikini top, watering the plants. Nicole never noticed how tan her legs were.

“When you’re done drooling and picked your jaw off the floor let me know so I can make us some drinks and food.” Wynonna made her way inside. She was more amused than annoyed. She was glad there was a decent person, or let’s say half-decent in that moment, looking at her sister in that way.  
Nicole just nodded and gave Wynonna a short “yeah” without taking her eyes off the small brunette. Waverly’s legs were covered in little water drops and hair was swinging in a long, high pony tail. When she noticed Nicole she gave her a shy smile and wave.

Nicole wanted to drop her bags and kiss the beautiful girl right then and there. But her gag reflex had other plans. She smiled awkwardly and hurried into the house, just so making it into the bathroom to throw up.

“GROSS, HAUGHT. ALSO: LIGHTWEIGHT, HAUGHT”, Wynonna called from the kitchen.

The rest of the day was spent on the couch with hangover food, whiskey that magically made Nicole feel much better and the complete works of Bud Spencer and Terence Hill.

Every once in a while Nicole’s eyes wandered to Waverly, now bent over doing some yard work.

She knew she had to do something or she’d explode.

_______________

 

“Go out with me.”

“What?”

“Go out with me.”

“Like what, on a date?”

“Yes.”

“You’re asking me on a date.”

“Yes, yes I am.”

“Okay.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, okay.”

“Cool.”

“When?”

“Mine, tomorrow night. I’ll cook and we’ll watch a movie.”

“You’ll cook?”

“Yes.”

“You can cook?”

“Of course.”

“Alright. It’s a date.”

_______________

 

“This is the best Pasta I’ve ever had.”

“Thank you, I’m glad you like it.”

“It’s like… somehow sweet but so rich in taste. I don’t know how to describe it and then this… this taste, what is that?”

“Lemon zest.”

“It’s amazing.”

“Thank you.”

“Is there more?”

“Yeah there’s plenty.”

“Will you still be attracted to me if I eat another plate?”

“You’re becoming more attractive with every plate you eat.”

“Good. I hope you like thick girls because I want to eat this every day for the rest of my life.”

“I’ll like you always.”

 

_______________

 

Waverly was sitting on the kitchen counter, a glass of red whine swirling in her hand, dress pulled up around her hips, legs spread just enough to see the lacy panties she was wearing underneath her tights.

Nicole had excused herself to the bathroom because the make out session that ensued when she was putting the plates into the dishwasher made her feel very warm and she needed to splash some cold water on her face.

‘You can do this, Haught. You slept with plenty of girls. None of them were this beautiful but you're charming and cool and nobody has every complained about your head between their legs, so you’re all set. Go for it.’

She looked at herself in the mirror. The eyes looking back at her were telling her that this was good. For the first time they didn’t ask her if she was sure.

She stood up, fixed her hair, checked her breath and walked back into the kitchen.

Nicole’s eyes wandered from Waverly’s down to her lips, then to her breasts that looked insane in the tight, gold shimmering dress, along her hips and down between her legs where she got stuck.

“I’m glad you like what you see”, Waverly was leaning back slightly, looking up through her eye lashes, presenting her body to the redhead.

Something changed in Nicole’s eyes in that moment. Waverly could see it and she was more than ready.

The first kiss was urgent and determined to make the brunette know Nicole wanted her.

The second one was more gentle, licking along Waverly’s lips and then going for the other woman’s tongue.

The third kiss had them entangled, Waverly’s legs were around Nicoles hips, her arms crossed behind the read heads neck, and her hips thrusting into Nicole’s midsection.

Tongue on tongue and chest to chest Nicole lifted Waverly off the counter by hear ass and carried her to the hallway where she pressed her against the wall. Waverly let out a little squeal when her back hit the wall and Nicole’s teeth started biting her neck. The redhead’s strong hands had a firm grip on Waverly’s butt and tightened the grip whenever Nicole leaned in for another kiss.

They stayed there for a while, Waverly moaning a bit with every new move Nicole put on her until she couldn’t take it anymore.

“I…”, she huffed when Nicole’s teeth bit her ear lobe “Oh my, okay Nicole”, she took her head in her hands and made Nicole look her in the eyes. “Nicole, I need you to-“, she swallowed.

“Yeah?” Nicole looked at Waverly in a worried manner.

“I need you to fuck me, okay? I need you to fuck me hard. Like, choke-me-spank-me-pull-my-hair hard. Do you understand?”

Nicole was wet in an instant.

The grip on Waverly’s ass go tighter and Nicole’s fingertips were now almost in between Waverly’s legs. She carried the horny girl sitting on her hips to her bed room.

Waverly noticed a change in the room. The smell of lavender. The beautifully quilted blanket on the bed, the small lamps that gave the room a warm, comforting light and the picture of Nicole in uniform with 5 guys standing in front a tent in the desert. They all looked exhausted and happy.

Next to it was another one, in a self made frame that read “Happy Father’s Day”.  
A tall girl in her teens was standing next to a tall man in his 50s. Both were dressed in camping gear and stood in front of a camp fire just as the sun set.

Waverly took a few seconds to notice, acknowledge and appreciate the changes and another second to smile to herself and then got back to the task at hand.

She wanted to get fucked into oblivion by the the hot redhead standing in front of her.

Waverly was laying on the bed, propped up slightly on her elbows and giving Nicole that look that said “come and get it.”

Nicole didn’t need another second to push herself on top of the amazingly sexy girl. One hand running up the side of Waverly’s thigh, on hand pulling down the zipper on the tight gold dress.

Nicole had Waverly’s dress off in no time and could now properly admire the toned, tanned body beneath her. “You are… amazing.” Nicole’s eyes wandered up and down the other woman’s body and Waverly blushed. She pushed Nicole back slightly, got up and started taking off Nicole’s pants.  
Nicole was now standing in front of her in her underwear, a few buttons of her loose shirt opened, her bra no visible for the smaller woman.

Waverly pushed her on to he bed, climbed on top and straddled Nicole.  
She loosened her long hair out of her pony tail, ran her finger through it and flipped in to the side in a causal manner. Nicole had never seen anything so effortlessly sexy and her mouth stood open.

Waverly now had an urgency in her look and began grinding on Nicole’s hips. Her hands started unbuttoning remaining buttons on Nicole’s shirt and pulled it off her. Now both of them were in their underwear. Waverly grinding harder and faster on top of Nicole. Nicoles hands firmly running up Waverly’s thighs, along her hips and finally resting on her breasts.  
When she noticed the hook in the front it seemed like a split second for Nicole to open it. Waverly’s breast were now resting in Nicole’s hands who massaged them firmly, her thumbs brushing over the nipples drawing little moans out of Waverly’s mouth. She was riding Nicole faster now, her head thrown back, enjoying the strong, warm hands on her breasts.

Nicole pushed up and turned the situation around. Waverly was now on her back, Nicole between her legs thrusting into her. One hand was caressing Waverly’s cheek as she was kissing her, the other one was wandering up and down her body. Every time Nicole ran her fingers across Waverly’s hips a gasp escaped the woman who winding underneath her. Their movements became urgent and Nicole took of her bra, now pressing her breasts against Waverly’s.

Their tongues were playing with each other for a while when Waverly stopped and looked at Nicole. She took her hand from her hip and led it down between her legs, under her panties and in ran the fingers along her wet folds.

A quiet “fuck” came out of Nicole’s mouth and she immediately pulled Waverly’s panties off.

She kissed from Waverly’s lips, along her neck, collar bone and breasts down past her navel, along the hips to the inside of her thighs. Her lips were no hovering just above the button between Waverly’s legs and Waverly could feel the warm air on her pussy.

She pushed her wetness towards Nicole’s mouth who responded with a quick flick of the tongue on Waverly’s clit. A jolt of electricity went through Waverly’s body. Nicole noticed the effect the little had on Waverly movement and couldn’t wait any second longer longer. Her whole tongue started licking the juices along Waverly’s pussy and the brunette was moaning loudly now.  
The tip of Nicole’s tongue dipped inside of Waverly and in that moment she knew she had her right where she wanted her. She kept Waverly on the edge for a bit until Waverly’s voice became desperate.

“Nicole, I’m serious, I can’t take this anymore”, she pleaded.

Nicole moved up and let Waverly’s taste herself on her lips.

Nicole sat up, now one hand around Waverly’s neck and the other stroking around Waverly’s dripping pussy in circles. Every round made Waverly’s squirm and moan harder.  
Her eyes were soft and begging.

Nicole stopped for a few seconds and when Waverly’s body came to a rest she entered her with two fingers.

A scream of pleasure and relief bellowed out of Waverly’s mouth and filled the room. Nicole immediately started fucking Waverly hard with her fingers, now adding a third one. Her other hand was still around Waverly’s neck.

Waverly was thrusting into the movement of Nicole’s fingers and she could feel herself getting closer and closer. She loved the feeling of Nicoles soft but strong hands around her throat.

“Pleeease don’t stop”, Waverly moaned desperately. The way her half opened eyes looked up at Nicole made her feel powerful. She fucked her faster, now letting go of Waverly’s throat and working her way down to her pussy. While her fingers penetrated the brunettes right hole her tongue lightly flicked Waverly’s swollen button.

It was maybe another 15 seconds before Waverly was screaming and started to quiver, sweet juices flowing down Nicole’s hand and into her mouth. Waverly tasted like heaven. Nicole pulled out her fingers and ate Waverly out through the orgasm which sent Waverly’s head spinning and her eyes rolling back into her head. The loud, desperate groan that Nicole heard next was the thing that now sent her into a state of pleasure of inconceivable ecstasy. Her was body shaking and as she tried to steady herself above Waverly the sudden feeling of the brunettes tongue in her mouth made her collapse with a moan that faded away into Waverly’s ear.

When they both calmed down all you could hear was their heavy breaths and the cicadas outside.  
Sweaty and exhausted they were now laying underneath Nicole’s new, softer blanket. Nicole was holding Waverly from behind, her leg draped across the small brunette’s and she hummed a slow song into her ear. Every once in a while Waverly had another shiver going through her body and it made her chuckle. She couldn’t remember the last time she came this hard. Not even when she did it herself. She snuggled herself closer to Nicoles body and after a while they both feel asleep.

That night Nicole didn’t have that nightmare.

Tonight the only thing that was filling her dreams was Waverly Earp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, finally sex. That part wasn't a dream. I promise.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After the mess that was Chapter 8 I thought I'd throw in a short one to ease myself out of those shit tons of dreams and uncertainties.

Nicole’s eyebrows twitched and she smiled in her sleep. Sometimes her lips made a small smacking noise. Waverly had never seen anything so adorable. She liked looking at the woman in front of her being so peaceful. She liked seeing Nicole happy. Awake or sleeping didn’t matter. What mattered that all those bad things of the past didn’t keep Nicole from moving forward. Nicole had to move on and keep going. Waverly hoped she had some kind of place in that process.

The blanket that Nicole bought was soft and fluffy and warm. Waverly felt… at home?  
Was that the right way to describe it? She wasn’t sure. What she was sure about is that she felt protective of Nicole. The last doubt that she could take care of herself left Waverly’s mind when Nicole broke Champ’s nose but still she wanted to make sure she’s fine, that no one hurt her, that she feels safe. 

It’s been a couple of weeks and to say that Waverly had a crush on Nicole was an understatement.  
She was in love with her. How it happened so quickly, Waverly wasn’t sure, but she also didn’t care. Even when Waverly was angry at Nicole for not pressing charges, she thought about her every morning with a fondness that went way beyond being friends or being attracted to somebody. 

The thought that Nicole might not feel the same or wasn’t ready for something like that in her life, crossed Waverly’s mind for a only a couple of seconds, but long enough to make her frown. 

Staring at the ceiling, brows furrowed, Waverly did not notice that Nicole had woken up. She was being watched with interest and curiosity. When Waverly began to pout, Nicole couldn’t help but to let out a small laugh. The pout on Waverly’s face turned into a smile in an instant and Nicole kissed her on the nose. 

“Good morning” she said with a tired smile. “What has you so worried?”

“Oh it’s nothing really, don’t even worry about it”, Waverly tried to play it off. 

“You know you can talk to me about anything, if you want”, Nicole was a bit more serious now.  
She wanted to be assertive and let Waverly know that she’s there for her, as a friends and as… whatever they were. 

Waverly turned to her side to look at Nicole and was met by the most gentle, brown eyes she had every encountered. How could someone just make you feel this good with just a look? 

“You like me, Nicole. Right?”

“Of course I do. You’re amazing.” Nicole said it with such genuineness that Waverly forgot herself for a minute. 

“Hey Waverly, come on, you can talk to me.”

Waverly snapped back to reality. 

“What are we? I mean what is this? Like, I need to know something because I’m a planner I plan things. You”, she said pointing at Nicole “were not planned. So I need some kind of information, some kind of definition that I can hold on to so I can… plan.”

“You want to plan us? I don’t get what you’re saying.” Nicole was confused by the waterfall of words spilling out of the small brunette. 

“I mean, do you want to do this?” Waverly was pointing her index finger back and forth between her and Nicole. “Then I’m in, you know? Then I know. Then I won’t be with anyone else. Not saying I want to but just saying I wont. Then I’ll make sure to do all the things a girlfriend is supposed to do. Then I know what I should tell people.”

“Girlfriend?”

“No, I mean… yeah? Maybe, if you like. Is that too fast? Like that’s what’s suppose to happen right? You fall in love with someone and then you become a couple.”

“You’re in love with me.” Nicole said almost whispering. 

Waverly mistook it for shock rather than Nicole surprised that her feelings were being returned in such a way. 

“Oh God.” Waverly got up and was now aimlessly walking around Nicole’s room, shaking her head, not sure what to do with herself. “I’m so stupid, I don’t even know you that well and you have so much other stuff on your mind and I just ambush you with this, this… this pressure. I’m so, so, so sorry, Nicole. You don’t have to say anything I’ll just leave.” Waverly started to gather her belongings. She dreaded having to go out in the rain in that golden dress that always felt way too tight. 

“Waver-“, but Nicole was cut off. 

“I want to be there for you. I want to be with you. But I need to know how to behave, what’s right and what’s not and what to tell people and I’ve never liked a girl before and it feels so different but I don’t want to pressure you or pressure me, because this is new and-“

“Waverly Earp, put your clothes down, get in to bed and let me explain something to you.” Nicole said it in a serious but loving tone. 

Waverly reluctantly put her clothes from the night before back on the arm chair sitting in the corner and sat, legs crossed across from Nicole on the bed. 

“First of all: I’m in love with you, too. So you’re safe in that department.”

Waverly smiled at her hands. 

“Second of all, we don’t have to define what this is. We’re friends, we’re in love with each other, we both have things to deal with, we like to hang out, we like to make out and that is okay and it’s okay to see it just as it is. When you want to be my girlfriend and I want to be your girlfriend and we want to be in a committed relationship with everything it involves then we’ll know and then we’ll talk about it. Until then, we can relax, spend some quality time together and get to know each other better. No. Pressure.”

Waverly had tears in her eyes. She hated that she had to cry when people were extra nice to her. But this time she didn’t mind. She threw herself at Nicole. Arms wrapped around the redhead’s torso and her head on her shoulders she whispered: “Thank you.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it took so long to update. I needed to concentrate on some important things. Don't expect too much of this chapter,  
> I need to ease my way back in.

It had rained for two weeks straight although it was already summer. Waverly enjoyed the time she and Nicole had spent since they've talked about their feelings for each other, but after watching Friends, Sex and the City and Gilmore Girls in their entirety she desperately needed to leave the house. 

"Can we go out?"

"I thought we already kind of were going out...", Nicole raised an eyebrow without taking her eyes off her magazine. 

"No I mean dancing, like to a club or a bar that's not Shorty's." 

“Erm….”

"Okay cool will you pick me up at mine in about an hour?"

"You want to go now?" Nicole asked like Waverly was crazy. There wasn't really a reason for her reaction, it was still early in the evening and neither of them had work in the morning, but Nicole hadn't had the best experience in bars the past year. She got way too drunk or had sex she then regretted or woke up covered in puke in front of her apartment door. 

"Yeah I want to go now."

"Waves, I'm not sure, I just didn’t have the best experiences at clubs the past year and-“

"But you're doing better. You're seeing that therapist and you said the methods she's given you help a lot. I can basically jump you whenever I want and you don't freak out. You've gotten drunk with Wyannoa and you did fine. You threw up but you were the cutest drunk ever. We can both stay sober, I just want to go out and make out and dance with you. In public."

"You are sure about this?"

Something in Waverly's look told her that she had nothing to worry about.

 

___________________

 

 

When Nicole pulled up at a quarter to 9 Waverly was having a drink with Wynonna on the porch. She had on a pair of cut off jeans and a tanktop that was just short enough to leave not too much to the imagination.

 

"SGT. HOT STUFF!" Wynonna called over to Nicole. "Lookin' mighty fine!" 

Wynonna never failed to make her laugh. Nicole was glad they were becoming friends.

"You really do look mighty fine", Waverly grinned up at Nicole and gave her a hug and kiss. 

"Gross, take it upstairs, no wait don't I'm getting me some tonight so y'all better let this party end at the base."

"I see you're already drinking so I guess I'll be driving?" Nicole said, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh shit I forgot oh god I'm so sorry." Waverly really did forget that they both didn't want to drink.

"It's okay, we only need one driver. Where are we going anyway?" Nicole asked.

"Oh I found this really cool place online, it's in the city it's called 'Radio'."

Nicole's face froze. "Are you sure that's where you want to go to there's lots of other places we can go that are-", she was cut off by Waverly.

“Yes I’m super-duper-sure. It looks awesome!”

 

———————————————————

 

Nicole was nervously sipping on her Coke while Waverly was drinking her 2nd Whiskey Sour. 

 

“This is so exciting! It’s just women, this is great!” Waverly exclaimed with a huge grin on her face. “We should come here all the time. Are there more bars like this?”

“Eh… sure there’s a couple, this one is probably the best though.”

 

Nicole liked the place, actually. But she knew that there were quite a few girls there that evening that she fucked and never called back and she was not ready to face that. 

 

Waverly finally got her to dance a bit and for a while Nicole forgot about the countless girls she took home from here. 

 

———————————————————

 

“You know I thought I was at least a bit special to you. But turns out you DID actually let people get close to you.”

 

“Waverly, I-“

“What? You what, Nicole?”

“It was just sex. I was in a bad place, I thought it would make it better, it didn’t.”

“I can’t believe you’ve slept with all these girls.” 

“Waverly, you asked and I gave you an honest answer.”

“I was joking, obviously! I don’t want to know who you slept with, who’d want to know that about their…their…”, Waverly let out a sigh “I don’t even know what we are at this point. Maybe I’m just a toy to you.”

“Waves, that’s not fair. You know that I’m in love with you. And if you’d tell me how many people you’ve slept with I wouldn’t get mad because I respect you and your choices. You can do whatever you want.”

“Oh, now I don’t respect you?” Waverly had an appalled look on her face.

“No, you don’t. You’re mad at me for having sex with women BEFORE we’ve met and you’re trying to make me feel bad for telling you an honest answer to a question you asked. So no, you’re not respecting me.”

 

Waverly crossed her arms and turned her eyes back on the road. 

She knew Nicole was right, but she didn’t want to admit that. 

She wasn’t really drunk, so that wasn’t an excuse. 

She had had lots of one night stands and some flings and even a relationship or two before she met Nicole. She had angry sex and sad sex and destructive sex. 

If Nicole would have reacted this way Waverly would tell her to kindly fuck off. 

So why was she behaving like this? 

 

Nicole on the other hand was just hurt. It was hard enough to be out in a bar like that, especially knowing there would be people she knew there. But she felt so brave because Waverly was with her and she was actually starting to enjoy herself at one point. 

Now she was punished for being honest. 

 

“I’m going to drop you off at home.”

“Fine.”

“Wave-“

“I said ‘Fine’. Please just drop me off at home.”

Small tears were rolling down Nicole’s face.

Waverly noticed but refused to give in. She didn’t want to be wrong. She didn’t want to think about why she behaved like this.

 

She got out of Nicole’s car without saying a word but before she could slam the car door shut, Nicole said in a calm and warm voice: “Don’t forget to take an aspirin and drink enough water before you go to sleep. And if you’re getting Gus’ a birthday present tomorrow, they have that really nice cook book you were looking for at the book store. I told them to hold it for you, it’s already paid for. I hope you sleep well.”

 

Waverly was taking aback by the kindness and warmth that Nicole showed her even though Waverly really hurt her feelings. She was still standing there, door in hand. She didn’t know what to say so all she could muster up was a “Sure, whatever”.  Then she slammed the door shut and stomped off to the homestead.  
Nicole could only see her back now and waited for Waverly to safely get into the house.  
She turned the car around and headed home. Sadness was joined by confusion. 

She didn’t know what to make of Waverly Earp that night. 

When she was home Nicole took out her phone.

Waverly was sitting on her bed in the homestead, angry at herself, looking at her phone.  
She wanted Nicole to call. She wanted them to make up. She wanted them to be nice again. 

 

Nicole put the phone to her ear. After the fifth dial tone, her call finally got answered. 

 

“Hey you.”

“Hey, listen, I was just wondering, do you want to come over, you know, and talk?”

“Talk?”

“Yeah.”

“Sure, we can ‘talk’.”

“Should I pick you up?”

“Nah, I’ll manage. See you in about 30.”

 

Waverly was sitting on her bed. “No missed calls. No new message,” she whispered to herself, still staring at her phone. She curled up and cried herself to sleep. 

 

Nicole’s door bell rang. She opened the door. 

“Hey babe”, said a beautiful black haired woman in a low husky voice. “Let’s ‘talk’.”

 

—————————————————

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're still following this story after I abandoned it for so long: thank you. I hope you'll forgive my long absence.  
> Please still let me know about any glitches or things that don't make sense.


	11. Chapter 11

“Thank you for coming over so late.”

“No problem, babe.”

“Do you want something to drink?”

“I wouldn’t say no to a beer.”

They sat down on the couch. Nicole was nervously shifting around in her spot and was fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.

“How do you like the beer?”

“It’s good. Is it german?”

“It is.”

“I like it.”

“Good, good. I’m glad.”

Nicole was starting to peal of little pieces of silver label on the bottle.

“So, you wanted to ‘talk’?”

“Don’t say it like that. You make it sound horrible.”

The beautiful woman sitting across from Nicole just laughed and put her hand on Nicoles thigh.

——————————————

There was a knock on the door. Nicole ignored it. Then another. She ignored it again.  
Sleep had the upper hand and she was in no mood to get up.

The woman laying next to her slipped out from under the blanket and made her way to the door. Nicole had already fallen asleep again and didn’t notice until she heard a familiar voice shout “MOTHERFUCKER!”. She jumped up and had just made her way to the hallway when Waverly barged past the black haired woman that was dressed in Nicole’s ‘ARMY’ shirt and some shorts. Tears were streaming down Waverly’s face. She came to a halt just inches away from Nicole’s face. For a few moments there was complete silence. All you could hear was Waverly’s heavy breathing and the tap dripping in the kitchen.

“You know I came here to apologize. I sat up the whole night wondering why I was mean to you yesterday. I cried for hours because I was so ashamed when I finally realized why I behaved the way I did, why I was feeling the way I feel. And I wanted to call you but I couldn’t. I was feeling so ashamed. So this morning I finally gathered my whole courage to tell you why I freaked out on you. When… when you told me about these girls I felt like I wasn’t enough. I felt like I might not be experienced enough, not sexy enough. I was scared that you’d get bored with me and that you’d throw me away. And then I thought ‘No, Waverly, you are enough. Nicole is really in love with you and you’re in love with her and you’re enough.’. But apparently I was wrong!”

Waverly turned her head to the other woman, still standing at the open door.  
She had stopped crying but there was more sadness in her eyes than ever before.

“I…” Waverly had to swallow hard not to cry again “I can’t believe you’d just throw us away like that.” With that she turned and stormed out of the house. “And fix that damn tap!”

The woman just looked at Nicole who couldn’t bring herself to say anything. Why couldn’t she move? She was frozen in shock. It was definitely too early.

When she was finally able to form a clear thought all that she could say was “Fuck!”

The other woman just closed the door and started laughing.

“Maggie, this isn’t funny!”

“I’m sorry, I-“ she burst out laughing again, “I think you should go after her.”

Nicole cursed under hear breath and put on some street clothes. She pointed at Maggie: “YOU are coming with me.”

“What? Why?” Maggie raised an eyebrow.

“Because you could have just told her!”

“Why didn’t YOU tell her?”

“Get. Dressed.”

—————————————————-

30 Minutes later Nicole and Maggie pulled up at the homestead. They barely had left the car when Wynonna came busting out the door, baseball bat in one hand, and a metal pipe in the other.

“THE CHOICE IS YOURS, HAUGHT! WHICH EVER ONE IT IS, TRUST ME, I’LL MAKE IT HURT.”

Wynonna was pissed. Nicole has never seen her this angry.

Maggie’s face was a mixture of concerned and amused.

“Jesus, people here really are the hillbillies I remember them to be,” Maggie said with a scoff.

Wynonna looked over to her. “You better watch it. You’re next when I’m done with this one,” nodding over to Nicole.

Nicole could notice Waverly standing in the door behind Wynonna.

“Waverly, please let me explain, I-“

Before she could finish the sentence, Wynonna barged at her and Nicole braced for impact.  
The sound that came next wasn’t Nicole’s skull cracking but her windshield. Wynonna was bashing in every single window of Nicole’s Ford Bronco.  
She was too shocked to react and just watched Wynonna, mouth open, smash in her windows, switching between bat and pipe.  
Meanwhile Maggie was curled over laughing, tears streaming down her face.

When Wynonna was done smashing every glas surface the car had she was standing there, sweating, exhausted but smiling.

“Boy, that felt good.”

Waverly was now just a couple of feet away from them. Nicole hated how cold Waverly could look.   
It was the same expression she had when Nicole didn’t want to go the police about Chance.  
Maggie was still laughing when Nicole said the sentence that had Wynonna mortified in an instant.

“Waverly, Wynonna, that laughing idiot over there is Maggie. My sister.”

———————————

“I’m sorry about your windows, I’ll get them fixed first thing in the morning.”

“It’s fine. I’m mean, it’s shit but it’s fine. It’s alright.”

The four of them were sitting on the porch, drinks in hand, slow music playing in the background. Waverly was leaning against Nicole who had her arm around the small brunette. Maggie was sitting across from them, giving Nicole an approving nod.

“So this one calls me, right? Out of nowhere. After like months of not even writing me a text or some shit and says she wants to talk. And I go ‘You want to TALK?’ out of all people” Maggie points at Nicole “this one wants to talk. About her feelings. So I thought shit, this must be serious. So I speed to hers and-“

Nicole cuts her off: “Wooooah we don’t need to go into detail here. It’s fine. We’re all good, right? Right?” She looks at Wynonna who nods.

“Let her finish” Waverly says in a quiet and tired voice. Assuming that Nicole cheated on her made her feel even worse than she did about the evening at the bar and she had spent most of the afternoon locked in her room with Nicole apologizing and crying and apologizing again. A few soothing words and a quick make-out session later, they were almost back to normal. But Nicole knew Waverly still took this whole situation to heart.

Maggie waited for a bit before Nicole gave her a nod to continue.

“So anyways I get to Nicky’s and she’s all nervous and freaking out and then I think I’ve calmed her down a bit and we go to sleep and she-“ Maggie stops herself. The smile on her face turns into a soft, concerned, almost sad look as she continues on “She starts crying, and I’ve never seen her cry like that, not in 22 years can I remember more than a few times I saw her cry and certainly not like that.”

Waverly’s eyes looked up at Nicole who was unblinkingly looking at her sister.

Then Maggie turned her attention to Waverly. “She really really loves you. And my sister is an honorable, brave person. She’s not a coward. She’s not a liar. She’s not a cheater.  
She’s shit with her feelings sometimes”, Maggie chuckles “But she’s still one of the most loving people you’ll ever meet. Take good care of her. I know she’ll do the same for you.”

 

Nicole mouthed a 'thank you' to her sister. Wynonna was watching in silence.  
She was glad to see that Nicole had a sister that loved her the way Wynonna loved Waverly.

"I think its time for bed", she finally said.

"I think I'm gonna head back home", Maggie sad as she stretched her limbs.  
"Can you give me a ride back to Nicky's? I have my car there", she asked Wynonna.

"Sure thing. You two love birds staying here?"

"Yeah I think we're both exhausted."

"Alright, I'll see you in the morning.", Wynonna said with a wink.

Nicole got up to hug Maggie.

"Thank you, for everything."

"Don't be a stranger, okay? I only moved so close to you so we can see each other more. Let's not leave it so long next time.", Maggie said with smile and kissed Nicole on the forehead.

—————————————————

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise there will be lots of fluff and maybe a bit more than that in the next chapter.

**Author's Note:**

> haughtfox.tumblr.com


End file.
